An electronic device of today most often comprises software components and hardware components. Software components are a collection of computer programs, procedures that perform some task in the electronic device. Hardware components encompass the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute the software instructions. Hardware components are often implemented as at least one printed circuit board. Printed circuit boards mechanically support and electrically connect the electronic components of the electronic device using conductive pathways, or traces, etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. Alternative names are printed wiring board and etched wiring board. Printed circuit boards are often placed in open boards, racks or in covers, such as e.g. closed units or encapsulated units. A cover has one or several printed circuit boards placed in a case such as e.g. a metallic or plastic cabinet. Covers may be used to comprise electronic devices.
Type approval is granted to a product, such as an electronic device, that meets a minimum set of regulatory technical and safety requirements. Generally, type approval is required before a product is allowed to be sold in a particular country, so the requirements for a given product will vary around the world. Compliance to type-approval requirements is often denoted by a marking e.g. on the back of the product. An example of such a type-approval mark is the familiar Conformité Européenne (CE) mark which means that the marked product has obtained type approval in the European Union. Another example is the China Compulsory Certificate mark, commonly known as CCC Mark, which is a compulsory safety mark for many products sold on the Chinese market. The type approval of a product is based on the use of specific components. In case the specific type approved components are substituted by non type approved components, the type approval is void and usage of the electronic device/product could be in violation with national regulations.
Electronic devices require handling when the equipment failures or service malfunctioning occurs. Authorized handling of the electronic devices, such as e.g. repairs is performed by authorized personnel, such as e.g. personnel from the equipment provider or personnel from authorized repair providers. Further the authorized handling is performed with approved components and approved test methods to ensure high performance and ensure the maintaining of the type approval of the device.
Unauthorized handling, i.e. handling performed by e.g. Independent Repair Providers (IRP) i.e. others than those authorized, is often be performed with non approved components and methods for test and calibration, with may result in quality problems. The quality problems may be the electronic device's lessening performance and poorer functionality caused by the unauthorized handling. The quality problems may in turn lead to multiple repairs and a successive degradation of the network.
Without reliable possibilities to detect unauthorized handling of electronic devices, the providers end up in a difficult situation. The HW warranty is void but burden of proof is on the providers of the electronic devices. Even when a suspected unauthorized handling of electronic devices is detected the problem remains to prove it.
Today it is not possible to detect unauthorized handling remotely. Instead the method used is manual inspection, such as e.g. careful visual inspection, of the electronic device. Manual inspection is costly and only possible at central handling sites. Since it is most unlikely that the electronic devices are located at the central handling centre, only those devices that are situated at the central handling site may be easily manually inspected. The other devices that are located elsewhere require transportation and, accordingly, disconnection which is time consuming and thus costly.
Another method used today to detect if electronic devices are handled by unauthorized personnel is to facilitate the manual inspection by applying a sealing arrangement, such as e.g. a seal of lacquer or similar, to the cover enclosing the electronic device. The sealing arrangement is broken each time the cover enclosing the electronic device is handled, i.e. opened, thus distinctly indicating that some handling of the electronic device has occurred. However, replacing the seal in order to conceal handling of the cover enclosing the electronic devices is not that difficult. That is to say that the sealing arrangement is too easily fiddled with, to ensure a reliable and trustworthy method of detecting unauthorised handling of electronic devices.